THE SUBSTANTIAL UNITY BETWEEN CATECHESIS AND APOLOGETICS

St. Athanasius the Great, valiantly and brilliantly defended the faith aginst the heresy of Arius. He explained with great clarify and precision why Arius is worthy to be condemned for his blasphemies against Jesus the Lord.

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Hello Fr.,

Fr. I'm so glad that you are always responding me through email.May tanong po ako sa inyo, ano po ba ang ibigsabihin ng PCP II # 222 ng sinabi nito na "we need now widespread apologetic-catechesis" ? Paano po natin pagsabayin ang catechesis and apologetics at sa anong paraan po pwede itong pagsabayin? Fr. I need your explanation. May nabasa naman akong kyregma magazine about apologetics na nagsasabi na after vatican II some of the seminaries in the world remove apologetics on their curriculum, is this true Fr.? Ano po ang dahilan nito at ano ang naging resulta nito sa mga pari ngayon?Thank you very much Fr. I hope you can visit us here in Davao para mas ma inspire pa kami. God Bless you always and your Somascan Family.

Bro. Garfield

FR. ABE'S REPLY:

Dear Bro. Garfield,

[Fr. I'm so glad that you are always responding me through email.May tanong po ako sa inyo, ano po ba ang ibigsabihin ng PCP II # 222 ng sinabi nito na "we need now widespread apologetic-catechesis" ? Paano po natin pagsabayin ang catechesis and apologetics at sa anong paraan po pwede itong pagsabayin?]

Catechesis and Apologetics are substantially united with each other. The both form what we call the Kerygma or the Proclamation of the Faith or Teaching of the Faith in the Church. There is only distinction between the two: First, Catechesis is designed as a basic pedagogy, that is, it is meant to inform and teach the incoming members, the new members and the young members to the basic tenets of the faith. It aims to develop the foundation of Christian understanding of faith to these group. On the other hand Apologetics aim to strengthen that foundation estabished in Catechesis. It teaches the Catholic to be equipped to explain his faith to others, to share it, to articulate it and to defend it if necessary.

Thus, the PCP II simply encourages us to learn the basics of the faith through Catechesis and at the same time to grow in faith by being able to explain in well to others and even defend it if situation calls for it through Apologetics.

We can do both Catechesis and Apologetics when we are teaching our fellow Catholics the basic tenets of faith and at the same time we empower them to be able to speak well of it and to reason it out with non believers as well as anti-Catholics. Just like what you are doing. You are a Catechist but at the same time you are training yourself with CFD on how to defend the faith. The young CFD's are being given basic catechetical instructions then as they progress in knowledge Kuya Ryan or Bro. Hector or Bro. Jub prepares them for philosophical defense of the faith. That is the process of change from Catechism to Apologetics.

In my blog I am doing the same. I am teaching the readers basic elements of the faith but when the detractors are coming in trying to discredit our Catholic Faith then I am transforming my method to that of apologetics. I reason out to answer his questions and I argue to question his faith with the aim of proving that the Catholic Church is the true Church.

[Fr. I need your explanation. May nabasa naman akong kyregma magazine about apologetics na nagsasabi na after vatican II some of the seminaries in the world remove apologetics on their curriculum, is this true Fr.? Ano po ang dahilan nito at ano ang naging resulta nito sa mga pari ngayon?]

Well, it is true. They removed apologetics even if Vatican II never asked that apologetics be removed. In fact, in Vatican II Apologetics is more needed because we have to dialogue with other religions. Some dialogue are friendly some dialogues require gentlemanly debates. Then in order to be fully prepared we need both Catechesis and Apologetics.

By removing apologetics then many Catholics including some priests are no longer competent to defend the faith. Thus, we lost many souls; a good number of Catholics left the Church and claiming that they are not taught the Bible and that our teachings are Unbiblical. People started converting back to the Catholic Church en masse when our lay apologetists and few priests started defending the faith again as Apologists. Then the converts from other religion are now in the forefront of Catholic Apologetics and at the same time now the Catholic Youth are awakening and they too have started preparing for Apologetics Apostolates.

Please don't think that removal of Apologetics are only for those who are liberal. The ultra-traditionals also or the ultra conservatives just like the adherents of SSPX also ABANDONED APOLOGETICS. He, he, he... How? They are no longer targeting the heretics such as the INC, ADD, Born Again, Baptists, Mormons, etc. They always attack the Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops and the Priests. So that if the INC is anti-Pope, the SSPX ultra trads are also anti-Pope; if the Born Again hate the Novus Ordo Mass, they also hate the Novus Ordo Mass. The enemies of the Church do not recognize Vatican II and they do also. Ha, ha, ha... THEY HAVE BECOME EXACTLY LIKE THE DEVILS THAT THEY PRETEND TO BE REJECTING.

That is why we are on MIDDLE GROUND. We accept Vatican II which teaches Dialogue with other religions. But we also maintain Apologetics. We dialogue by reasoning for and defending the faith.

[Thank you very much Fr. I hope you can visit us here in Davao para mas ma inspire pa kami. God Bless you always and your Somascan Family.]

Thank you Bro. Garfield. God bless you too. I do hope that the Lord will grant me the grace to visit Davao again.

In Christ Jesus the Lord,

Fr. Abe, CRS